Being Useful

 DEVOTION

TO HEBREWS

BEING USEFUL

Heb 6:7-8

7 Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. 8 But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

NIV

We will get more on this as we proceed with what this author, through the inspiration of the Spirit, has said regarding this matter, but it would be good for us to ponder on this first. We have often been compared to a tree that produces good fruit, and trees that do not are cut down and thrown into the fire, but here we are compared to the land. The rain must be the goodness of God, and most likely would be the blessings the land received through Jesus. He is rained down upon the land, and as we soak up that rain, or accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we also are being rained down upon by the Holy Spirit, and as we soak in the rain, we produce what is useful for the kingdom of God, because He is the,  for whom it is farmed. God is blessed when we produce what is useful to Him, and His kingdom. But of course, that would also mean we are useful to others who live in the kingdom, and it would also be appropriate for us to be useful to those who live outside the kingdom, showing them the blessing of being a child of God. It is sad to think about those who live outside the kingdom because they only produce thorns and thistles that are useless to the farmer, who is God, and they are in danger ending up cursed and thrown into the fire, that lake of burning sulfur. However, the challenge we must face is we believers, the land Jesus and the Spirit are rained upon need to produce a crop useful to the kingdom. That means we are not supposed to sit and soak in our pews and look good but are not producing what we should. The question is, what do we do that is useful for the kingdom of God? It is great to get together with other believers and chat about whatever, and hopefully about the word of God, but we have noticed even that is lacking in our conversations. However, just getting together is not a benefit to the kingdom unless we are building each other in the unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. If we are doing all that when we gather then we would be useful. The question is are we doing that, or do we look for our own benefit in some way, lifting ourselves up, and boasting about our works, which does not build anyone else, but perhaps creates attitudes and feelings that are also not beneficial to the kingdom. Let us allow the rain to fall upon us, soak it in, and produce a useful crop for the kingdom.